Daily Links Jan 26
And now for something completely different … . I’d add that I don’t think that the jury is still out on Margaret Court, they have returned and they were unanimous …
This website is a work site, a site for self-advertisement and a site for ramblings and musings.
My Blog Contact MeI’ve failed retirement yet again. I had a fixed-term 4 month placement in late 2017 with Sustainability Victoria establishing community energy projects in Gippsland. It was terrific and I loved it, but with SV making a full-time ongoing appointment in December of that year, I was able to resume happy retirement.
But! The Executive Officer of the Western Port Biosphere Foundation, one of Australia’s nine UNESCO Biospheres, was retiring in late 2018 and I’d long looked on at the Biosphere, thinking that there was a lot could be done with the UNESCO brand in balancing conservation and development in the Western Port region. I went down and told the Board what I reckoned they should do – and they called my bluff. “You come and do it then”, they said. It was a case of put up or shut up and the latter isn’t my strong point. So here I am, Executive Officer of the Western Port Biosphere Foundation, working part-time with a small team based in Hastings conducting projects that explore how we can meet human needs without buggering the environment on which we and all other species depend.
Before then, I’d had 10 years at the helm of the South East Councils Climate Change Alliance where we conducted projects in both mitigation and adaptation on behalf of our region of councils.
Prior to that, I worked in education, public policy and programs and in environmental activism.
It’s not as though all of my time now is my own, but the choice regarding how I spend it is. I am a Board Member of the John Cain Foundation, a progressive policy-influencing think-tank following the precepts of one of Victoria’s great Premiers John Cain. Our luncheon meetings are on the third Wednesday of each month – check the program at johncainfoundation.com.au
Until recently I was a member of a Ministerial Advisory Committee, the Central Coastal Board, and of Regional Development Australia’s Southern Melbourne Committee, one of 55 committees across the nation that develops the evidence base for and makes recommendations about regional development to state and federal governments. I also stepped down as a Trustee of the Caroline Chisholm Education Foundation, providing scholarships to students such that education can offer more broadly the life-transforming opportunities of learning to students who otherwise couldn’t afford further education at Chisholm TAFE.
I am conducting bird walks and talks around Melbourne, reviewing and evaluating interpretation programs for ecotourism agencies, I am presenting addresses to schools on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, to Probus groups on the environmental policies that we need and I’m running quiz nights for community social groups. In between these activities, I step out across this wide brown land to add to my life list of Australian birds, currently sitting on 660 species.
Curriculum Vitæ
Contact me via this website for a copy of my Curriculum Vitae and we can see if our interests align.
I’ve done other things and developed other experiences that might be useful to people and groups around the traps. I have considerable flexibility in my work arrangements, I have an ABN and I can draw upon an extensive network of associates to extend the volume and breadth of work you’d like to do. Please make contact if I can help with any of the topics listed below.
You might want some advice re climate change responses, mitigation and/or adaptation? There’ve been many mitigation and adaptation plans written. Rather than start from scratch, we could talk about how to tailor a plan for your own context and needs.
Perhaps you want some community engagement advice or program delivery? Do you want to hold some information sessions for local residents or community group members on who they might work with or what might be possible for their community response? Give me a call and let’s talk.
I also do a bit of MCing, chairing meetings and running tailored quiz nights for your conference to keep your delegates out of the bar and having a good time. Your community group might want a fund-raiser? I’ll do a quiz night for them if you wish, with questions chosen for currency and frivolity. You give me an audience of 100 people, I’ll raise you a $1000 just for starters without really trying – and I guarantee they’ll enjoy themselves.
And now for something completely different … . I’d add that I don’t think that the jury is still out on Margaret Court, they have returned and they were unanimous …
Today’s Age has chapter and verse on Carbon Capture and Storage. (There’s a great article by Henry Reynolds with chapter and verse on the English Invasion too). Chevron has sunk …
Here’s an interesting analysis to explain the tight links between resource industries and the LNP government. It didn’t have to be this way; consider how all Norwegians benefit from the …
Stacking panels with resource shills is bad and then they they rub our noses in it!https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/23/coalition-quietly-adds-fossil-fuel-industry-leaders-to-emissions-reduction-panel
The appeal of using flat coastal land for runways isn’t so great nowadays. And I’ve been told that there’s already been a runway extension in Brisbane because higher temperatures means …
If anything on this site has taken your fancy, I’d love to hear from you. Please use the contact form to get in touch and share your thoughts.